Archive By Section - Jan Moore column

If the questions I receive are a decent gauge of readership interests, then clearly you all are focused on shopping and restaurants. But let me encourage you to take your eyes off of the prize for a moment, and look at what I consider to be a fun "battle" to watch - the "heated" up hotel market.

It is easy to get caught up in the hype surrounding a new retail business opening in Statesboro. It adds to our shopping options, and it also makes Bulloch County retail more attractive to its neighbors who come to shop here.

Let's be honest. Many of us have gone at least once to a grocery store in Savannah to pick up something that the grocery stores here don't carry.Before you run to call Soundoff admonishing me as a turncoat, there is a seasoning made by a Florida based company that I can only find in Savannah. Near and dear to my heart, but no one here carries it, and my requests have fallen on ears of store managers who are unable to get their parent companies to stock it.

Bulloch County now has two regional hospitals – one for people and one for animals. The Bulloch Veterinary Clinic and Statesboro Animal Hospital P.C. have merged, and a new facility constructed on Highway 80 East.

I really admire good marketing, and to me one of the best marketing tools is to put a "public" stamp on the work you have done. Case in point, I have noticed CRT Mulching Services' signs all over the place.

The new Holiday Inn on the Veteran's Parkway is set to open on June 16 according to Doug Lambert, spokesman for the ownership group. Lambert said the project is on schedule, and rooms and banquet facilities are already being booked.

This past Saturday, the Statesboro Home Builders Association held its annual Parade of Homes and Home Show. With the real estate market as slow as it has been in probably a decade, I went to the vendor part of event held at the association's headquarters with a keen sense of curiosity.

This past week, Georgia's Secretary of State Karen Handel came to Statesboro to host a fundraising event for Jan Tankersly who is seeking reelection this fall to the Bulloch County Board of County Commissioners.

Last week was Spring break for many children in our county, and I am very grateful that I was able to spend a few undisturbed days with mine. They are truly the light of my husband and mine's lives, and anytime I can get away from my work to spend time with them, I cherish that opportunity.

Think of this column as a public service announcement of sorts. I suppose this has to do with business in a way, because the upcoming change in television signal transmission will have a commercial as well as a consumer effect. However, I am writing this mainly to get the message out, and to give folks a resource to access if they have any questions.